Apparatus for obtaining fibers from fibrous material



Feb. 27, 1923. 1,446,974

A.|. KENDALL APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING FIBERS FROM FIBROUS MATERIAL Filed June 1, 1920 I IWWWH"WH Q8 L.-1/ 18 Patented Feb. 27, 19 23.

ARTHUR ISAAC KEN ALL, ormvawsroiv, trimmers, essrenoie or one-HALF To 1 F'BHI'IIIPTBMSEEHWAY OFVEVANSTQN, ILLINOIS! t I mlemswsme ares. their merits MATERIAL i Application m g June 1, 1320i. Serial 110385 511.

v I I g KENDALL,

"Be it kn wn 'that- IQ-A T UR v a citizenofthe United States, residing at Evanston, inthe county of Geek and State of Illinois, have. invented certain newjand invention relates t e-certain improvements in tnepmceeer obtaining fibers for textile. oroth'er pi rposes 'frmnvegetable matter, such as fi a 1 One of the objects "of-the invention is t0- provide' a novelninethod of -making a separatioh, or a-"partial separation,- by mechanical means ofthe fibrous from the non-fibrous constituents of-"the stalks 0r other m aterial.

Another object is to provide a novel bacteriological or "retting 'method for e'fl ecting this separation which may be -employed either in connection with or -i nde-pend ently of the mechanical methoc'lr'efierred to. I

' According to the practice heretofore used for obta'iningfiax fibersyforexample, from j 25 the stalks ofthe flag; plant, the first step is to ret the "material? There are three common methods of'rettingr'l he dew method," in accordancewith which-the Wegetablematter is spread-out'upon the-groundybacter-ial action taking place through the m iiistk-ining of the material by-de'w; stream- -rettingfcarrie d on in northern-France and-Belgium, in

accordance with which 'the material" is submerged-1n runn ng streams; and the tank- 'process which involves-placin gfthe material in tanks and allowing the same'to stand-for several days. -Al1 of these processes are objecti-on'able be'causeflof the length-oft'i i e which is required for thefdissolvingor partial dissolving of the pectic substances,- and} because of lack of uniformity: of:=treatment 5* of the material a nd=thedanger-' tliatrby over treatment some or all o-f tlie} fibers 1 m be wealrened With the tank;metl iod the-fibers are frequently darkened; "The =dew and; stream re'tting methods reqi ireitreatmentofthe material for several weeks. Inthe tank method the "operatiomniay: take from ten to'a month. 4 Ithas also: been: proposed to ret-fiahemplsrami e, and-other fiberi conmining'n1ateriels by sterilizing thesemeand mergedv with purecultures ofcertain pectic [aerobic bacilli (see UzS. patent'to Rossi No.

97 7 ,13'3, No.v.'29,1 910) in'a-closed vessel and a passing a- "stream ofsterili-Zed air through the useful Improvements "the Apparatus for Obtaining Fibers fro n' Fihrous Material, of

- which the followingis vi-specification;

material; the treatment requiring, according "ito'the patent,i ro'nrithree'totweiity days"tim andinvolving as will-be obvious, somewhat expensive and "complicated apparatus and,

great careginfits manipulation,

' I have discovered "that the operati0n of separating the pectic substances in fibrous materials maybe performed in a certain -manner, to be hereinafter described, which very much-reducesthelength of-the period vious. methods, and does not involve the precautions and difficul'ties in handling the materialattendant upon the pure culture meth- 001 above referred to. The new method'im material, 1 or each operationmay be'used without the other depending upon the chara cterofthematerial treated and the use to -wh-i'ch' the fibers areto be put. Preferably,

howeyer, when the material is retted 'it is firstsubjected to the'shredding treatment as j that treatinent considerably facilitates lowing the bacteria to-'corneinto closer contactwiththe fibers;

'In a-ccord'a nce" this-invei'ition the materials,-flax stalks, for ex-ample, are, treated "oftreatnienh-in comparison with all pre- Valves a mechanical-[shredding or separation 5 I otthe fibers fromthestalk and'elso 'a-new' 'the subsequent'action of 'th'e bacteria by 21-1- as-foll'owsa'The stalksare preferably first I ahly forrned so as to shredor pull the 'fibers r apart. f The crushedmater-ial' is theneub- 'heit, and a gentle-movemerit of the water with respect} to? the j material is brought about. 'wh'i'ch effects the" constant removal have not found that necessary; The 7. gentle -n1erged in=softwater,- preferably'kept eta temperature from 85" to 9'5 degreesi Fahrem from the ineigh berhlood of; the material "of 'thegproducts-of bacterial actionm The-water "mightbechanged-whom time togitiine' butl 1 I j-WaS hing-Qf theaw'ater oter the material disperses the products of the action of the mi- .crobes throughout the. entire body of water so as to prevent the inhibitive action of such by-products on the organisms and to allow them "the freedom to continue their dissolv- 111g action'upon the pectlc substances. While it would be possible to inoculate the material withculturesof bacteria'of the typesuitable for doing this work, it is not at all necess ary' to do so inasmuch as the necessaryorgan sms are placed by nature on thematerial insufficient numbers to accomplish the retting operation in a relatively short time, provided the conditions under which theiraC- tion takes place .are favorable. M

My invention is not confined .tothe-use of any particular form of apparatus. In

the drawing hereto anneredl have shown,

in a diagrammatic manner, an. apparatus suitable for the purpose. In the drawing,

.-Fig. 1 shows, in elevation, a pair ofrollers for carrying out the mechanical separation contemplated by my invention.

' bacteriological step in the process, and

j Fig. 5 is a cross sectional view on line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

In Figs. '1, 2 and 3, 10,11 represent a pair of rollers mounted in suitable bearings 12, 12 and 13,13,therollers being preferably pressed one against the other by springs 14; en-

gaging the bearings 13 which are n'iounted so as to haveslight movement- The rollers locities. -As' shown,'the rollers are, geared together by gear wheels 15, 15 of different- .d1ameters. The rollers are formed-with circumterentialserrations 16 which are oblique or pitched. The'serrations in. GfiClllIOllQl are preferably continuous, consisting in effect, of a thread extending spirally around the roller from a'pomt near one end to a polntnear the other. The end portions of the roller are.

preferably left smooth so as to provide proper bearing surfaces 18 :torr oue' rolleixon I the other.

The serrations extend around the rollers in the :samedirection.

flax stalks. bet-ween the rollers-is accompaniedby a tearingor pulling apart of the fibers laterally since the serrations on :one

roller tend tomove the material in one'dipreferably hexagonal in cross section, hav

The rollers,'-' l1OTW6VG1,"2l/lf6 driven n opposite directions; and the result 1s that the movement of the ing trunnions 20, 21 revolubly supporting it on the standards 22.. Trunnion20 is pro vided with a sprocket wheel 23,01 other means by which the drum may be revolved. The irate of. revolution should bequite slow. The trunnion. 21is hollow and has projecting into the same a pipe at to carry ofi any gases producedbytheaction of the bacteria. The interior of the drum is provided with inwardly projecting fingers 25. These fingers keep'the flax stalks-substantially paralleland from becoming tangled. They also lift the'fiax stalks from the Water as the drum revolves them, constantly removing the waste products in solution from the imme'diate vicinityof them'aterial: and keepii1gthe material from packing. 1 The. material is placed in the drum, through an opening which is normally closed by meansof door .26, together with water and the drum revolved. For-flax retting the operation w1ll be completed ordinarily-in from twentyefour to seventy-two hours, depending 'upon the characterbf the material treated.

The process of 'retting'eontemplated by this invention resemblessomewhat the natural recess of dew rettin but is su erior because of the very considerable shortening,

of the period of treatment and the greater uniformity of bacterial action, The bacteria are.the same organisms which act in dew retting. The treatment, however, is, continuous instead of being intermittent. The action of the bacteria is more uniform than in dew wetting becausethere is a continuous dispersion of the products of bacterial action and acontinuous movement or the ma- "terial with respect to the bath which insures .eafch stalk receiving the same treatment as are driven in opposite direction by any suitable means and preferablyat difiierent .Ve-.

trogeneous substances asis the case in tank r'etting .where theprolonged submersion of the-material.resultsin aproteolytic action;

Hence there is no production of foul odors characteristicof the tank method of retting.

The bacteria which accomplishv the decomposition of the-pectic substances appear to v be facultatively; anaerobic; It is not necessary to. force air throughthe water. The amount of air naturally in the water is sufficient.v g

The. method difi'ers fromthe stream ret- .ting method in that in the latter the-bacteria are beingconstantly carried away from the material by the current. Itresernblesstream retting in thatitinvolves a similar-dispersion-of theproducts of bacterial action and the presence in the water-of small amounts .ofdissolved air. The stream retting method, however, is slow anddoes not give unicurrent of water through the material is ofisetby the; necessarily. close. pack ng. o h material. l

'forrn' results because the, efiect of passing the i I claim: with inwardly projecting fingers, in com- 1. In apparatus for rotting fibrous lnateblnation with means for revolving the drum,

rials, a rota-tably supported drumprovided said drum being formedwith a discharge 10 with inwardly projecting fingers, 1n combipipe for gases generated during the retting 5 nation with means for revolving the drum. operation.

2. In apparatus for retting fibrous mate- I rials, a rotatably supported drum provided ARTHUR ISAAC KENDALL. 

